The invention relates to an animal trap, and in particular to a humane trap for animals such as wolves and smaller animals.
The prior art discloses several animal traps of generally the same type as that provided by the present inventor. Examples of such prior art are U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,342,328, issued to A. Enos on June 1, 1920; 1,475,871, issued to F. H. Phillips on Nov. 27, 1923; 2,123,955, issued to J. Oberle on July 19, 1938; 2,805,513, issued to C. G. Long on Sept. 10, 1957 and 4,033,067, issued to J. Kuehl on July 5, 1977. Most of the traps disclosed by such patents include jaws in the form of plates, which are spring biased to the closed position. However, some of the traps, e.g. the Enos, Phillips and Oberle devices are not humane because the jaws have serrated edges for penetrating the leg of an animal. Others of the traps such as the Long apparatus are relatively complicated, including complex linkages and spring devices for operating the jaws.
The object of the present invention is to provide a relatively simple, humane animal trap, which is easy to produce because it includes no complicated parts.